Review by zcs -- A Kingdom Forgotten
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zcs
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Review by zcs -- A Kingdom Forgotten
[Following is a volunteer review of "A Kingdom Forgotten" by Charles W. McDonald Jr..]
3 out of 4 stars
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A Kingdom Forgotten is a Sci-Fi/Fantasy thriller written by Charles W. McDonald Jr. and is the first book of the epic series A Throne of Souls. The author has used his military background, especially his knowledge of modern warfare, and a very imaginative/crafty mind to weave a captivating story of what humanity can reasonably expect to happen in the near future by projecting mythical scenarios of our history and the dangerous geopolitical/racial state the world is in today. The book is full of action, surprises and puzzles: interaction between humans, humanoids, demigods and gods, magical powers never seen or experienced before, inter-world travels through magical portals, spiritual dimension worlds etc. The main focus of the storyline is planet earth, our world. Whatever happens in those other worlds, the author always brings us back to happenings in our world!
Damon, an evil man of many lifetimes, is the lead character. A powerful demigod who casts powerful spells and persecutes living souls at will: a mage, lamean by another name, moves between worlds at will perfecting his master plan to amass as much power as he can. There are many story lines in A Kingdom Forgotten and this sometimes made me lose track of the main story just to pick it up again several chapters later. But the book is very well organized since the reader eventually gets to know the persons of interest, the locations of focus and the developing theme of the main story.
Reading it, you sometimes get the feeling that you are in the middle of a dangerous, indeed deadly, virtual game with multiple scenarios with multiple outcomes and you have no idea who the bad guys are. The characters are introduced gradually between the 54 chapters of the book. The author dextrously mixes real-world characters in ancient world settings where horses are the mode of transport with modern happenings like the war against terrorists involving SEAL Teams and ISIS fighters.
This is a monumental book with complex storylines intelligently put together to keep your mind busy wondering and enjoying the reality of it all. However, several grammatical, spelling and syntactical errors sometimes spoil the flow of the story. I hope something is being done about this.
If you love playing complex strategic computer war games then you will enjoy reading this book. It is written for the screen and I expect to see a few renditions in the form of TV series before book 3 of A Throne of Souls is out. The first few chapters are somewhat heavy and you may even be tempted to put it down but as you come to know the characters better you will start to piece everything together. Mid-way through the book you finally get it and fly towards the end savouring every bit of it.
I really loved reading the clever plot that started World War III and the military response to the Chinese invasion of the USA. The author has tried to create a real-life scenario and with the current North Korea perceived threat to world peace McDonald Jr. has got it right this time.
Despite the errors mentioned above I did thoroughly enjoy reading this book and given its size, the unique style of writing and the complexity of the whole project (5 book series) I do highly recommend this book and rate it 3 out of 4 stars.
******
A Kingdom Forgotten
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon | on iTunes | on Smashwords
Like zcs's review? Post a comment saying so!
3 out of 4 stars
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A Kingdom Forgotten is a Sci-Fi/Fantasy thriller written by Charles W. McDonald Jr. and is the first book of the epic series A Throne of Souls. The author has used his military background, especially his knowledge of modern warfare, and a very imaginative/crafty mind to weave a captivating story of what humanity can reasonably expect to happen in the near future by projecting mythical scenarios of our history and the dangerous geopolitical/racial state the world is in today. The book is full of action, surprises and puzzles: interaction between humans, humanoids, demigods and gods, magical powers never seen or experienced before, inter-world travels through magical portals, spiritual dimension worlds etc. The main focus of the storyline is planet earth, our world. Whatever happens in those other worlds, the author always brings us back to happenings in our world!
Damon, an evil man of many lifetimes, is the lead character. A powerful demigod who casts powerful spells and persecutes living souls at will: a mage, lamean by another name, moves between worlds at will perfecting his master plan to amass as much power as he can. There are many story lines in A Kingdom Forgotten and this sometimes made me lose track of the main story just to pick it up again several chapters later. But the book is very well organized since the reader eventually gets to know the persons of interest, the locations of focus and the developing theme of the main story.
Reading it, you sometimes get the feeling that you are in the middle of a dangerous, indeed deadly, virtual game with multiple scenarios with multiple outcomes and you have no idea who the bad guys are. The characters are introduced gradually between the 54 chapters of the book. The author dextrously mixes real-world characters in ancient world settings where horses are the mode of transport with modern happenings like the war against terrorists involving SEAL Teams and ISIS fighters.
This is a monumental book with complex storylines intelligently put together to keep your mind busy wondering and enjoying the reality of it all. However, several grammatical, spelling and syntactical errors sometimes spoil the flow of the story. I hope something is being done about this.
If you love playing complex strategic computer war games then you will enjoy reading this book. It is written for the screen and I expect to see a few renditions in the form of TV series before book 3 of A Throne of Souls is out. The first few chapters are somewhat heavy and you may even be tempted to put it down but as you come to know the characters better you will start to piece everything together. Mid-way through the book you finally get it and fly towards the end savouring every bit of it.
I really loved reading the clever plot that started World War III and the military response to the Chinese invasion of the USA. The author has tried to create a real-life scenario and with the current North Korea perceived threat to world peace McDonald Jr. has got it right this time.
Despite the errors mentioned above I did thoroughly enjoy reading this book and given its size, the unique style of writing and the complexity of the whole project (5 book series) I do highly recommend this book and rate it 3 out of 4 stars.
******
A Kingdom Forgotten
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon | on iTunes | on Smashwords
Like zcs's review? Post a comment saying so!
Latest Review: Heaven and Earth by Arturo Riojas
